Secluded Homes – David Dumont (12/10/23)
Secluded homes are homes that aren’t in your typical community with homes on both sides and behind them as well. My definition of a truly secluded home would be one that sits on acreage, without another home within 50′ on any side. For this article, let’s also include homes in communities on greenbelt lots that don’t have a home behind them.
Living in secluded homes is attractive to a lot of people. Here’s a list of some of the Pro’s of living in secluded homes:
- No neighbors making noise when you have a 4:00 AM flight to catch!
- No cars parked in front of your home.
- No next door neighbor’s dogs barking right next to your bedroom window at 4:00 AM!
- Potentially wonderful views from every window in the home.
- Outdoor spaces: Bocce ball court, large fire pit, pool area with more options than on a standard lot, etc…
- Wildlife
- Outside city limits: Firing range, bow and arrow target range, burn pit, etc…
- Land use: Raising chickens for eggs and meat, cattle, horses, large out-building for small business, storage, vehicles, hunting, etc…
- Hobbies: Drone racing course, farming, terraced gardens, fishing pond, ninja warrior obstacle course, etc…
- Noise: If you have enough distance from your nearest neighbor, you could host a rock band at your home, have outdoor concerts, and nobody could complain.
- Door-to-door salespeople! The annoyance of having a stranger knock on your door to sell you something is dramatically diminished when you live on a large parcel of land. Also, having Do Not Trespass signs keep the roofing companies at bay after a storm.
- Family. Owning 20 acres and having land ready for your kids to be able to build their homes near yours is beyond wonderful and a dream for most.
The negative side of living on a secluded homesite:
- Land maintenance: Living on acreage means having to care for that land, which often involves expensive machinery, commercial size mower(s), brush hog, chainsaw, ATV, etc…
- Time and money: Land maintenance is not cheap or quick.
- Fencing: Your land has to have borders, and are those borders secured by fencing or open. Large amounts of fencing are extremely expensive, and require some upkeep from time to time. Also take into account household pets. If you live on 10 acres, you most likely don’t want your family dog running the entire parcel, so additional fencing is required to keep your pooch close to the house.
- Too much privacy: Complete privacy is important to some, however living in complete seclusion has it’s risks. If your land is wooded, would anyone notice if someone was on your land scoping it out with criminal intent? If you needed help, would anyone hear you cry out? In extreme cases of seclusion, how far is the nearest hospital? Nearest grocery store? Nearest veterinarian? Seclusion most often gets in the way of convenience.
- Wildlife (this is on both the pro and con lists because having wildlife of your choice is wonderful, but having wildlife you don’t want can be an immense nuisance and even dangerous). Let’s also include insects as wildlife. With a small residential lot, it’s easy to choose a pest company and have it sprayed quarterly to keep the critters under control. With acreage, that’s considerably more expensive and difficult.
- Weather. Living on a secluded homesite can be great, until it snows 12″ and you have a 200′ driveway. Do you own a snow plow? When spring comes and it starts to rain and doesn’t seem to want to stop, are there any low spots on your land that hold water?
- Convenient neighbors. That time you were baking your daughter’s birthday cake and knocked the only eggs you had onto the kitchen floor. Is it a 30 minute round trip to get more, or can you simply walk next door and borrow a couple from the neighbors? Neighbors are a nuisance, and/or a blessing, depending on timing and perspective.
- Family. Another factor that’s both a pro and con. Owning 20 acres and having land that your family wants to buy from you so they can build a home near you can be a nightmare if that isn’t what you want.
See also: Headlight Home, Stop Sign Home